Wednesday, October 17, 2012

I don't know
if it's just me, but other than Senator Tom Coburn,
M.D. from Oklahoma, American federal politicians seem to pay very,
very little attention to waste in government. Even the two presidential
candidates rarely discuss the specific issue of wasting taxpayers dollars.
Fortunately, Senator Coburn is out there, digging up dirt on foolish
government spending in this year's "Waste Book 2012".
Since stupid government spending is one of my biggest pet peeves, let's
take a look at a few of the more egregious examples of wasteful Washington
spending keeping this in mind:

1.) The
Oxymoron of Not-for-Profit Professional Sports Leagues: In light of
this season's NHL strike, this one seemed particularly timely. Dr. Coburn notes that three of America's largest
professional sports organizations (among others), the NFL, the NHL and the PGA have classified
themselves as non-profit organizations. By doing this, they are exempt
from paying federal income taxes on earnings. Let's single out the NFL.
The NFL describes itself as a "trade association promoting the
interests of its 32 member clubs". In 2010, the NFL received $184
billion from its 32 member teams and holds over $1 billion in assets, generating
an estimated $9 billion in annual revenue. Commissioner Roger Goodell received
$11.6 million in salary for 2010 compared to a salary of $3.4 million for the
highest paid CEO of a traditional non-profit. With this data in mind, Dr.
Coburn notes that barring major professional sporting league teams from
claiming the non-profit tax exempt status would generate an additional $91
million of federal tax revenue annually.

2.) Pottery
Barn Morocco-Style: In 2009, the United States Agency for
International Development stepped up to the plate (sports AND pottery analogy)
to improve the economic competitiveness of Morocco by dishing out $27 million to
help Moroccans create and design pottery for local and international markets.
Great idea! Unfortunately, the American potter that was sent over
used dyes and clays that are not commonly available in Morocco making it very
difficult for the Moroccan participants to follow up the instruction with
actual pottery production. On top of that, the translator provided for the American
instructor was not fluent in English making it impossible for the estimated 10
potters that attended the class on a regular basis to follow along. The
Inspector General found that the project "was not on track to achieve its
goals". Understatement of the year.

3.) Attack
of the Killer Robot Squirrels: Scientists at the San Diego State
University and the University of California were the beneficiaries of a
$325,000 National Science Foundation grant to study...science. Nothing
wrong with that, is there? What was studied? The interaction
between squirrels and rattlesnakes, what else? A portion of the grant was
proudly spent to construct a robotic squirrel as shown on this video:

Cool eh?
Robosquirrel is even wired so that its body heat signature looks real to
the rattlesnake. Fortunately for taxpayers, the rattlesnake was fooled
into attacking the robosquirrel. The moral of the story; rattlers are not
that clever. Neither are those who decide where NSF grants are allocated,
especially considering that they have been funded to the tune of $7.4 billion
for fiscal 2013.

Last but not
least we have:

4.) Pizza
on Mars: While NASA no longer has any way of getting man, woman, dog or chimp into space, no one can accuse this group of elite scientists of sitting on their
duffs. Apparently, NASA awarded $947,000 of your money to Cornell
University and the University of Hawaii where researchers are studying the best
food for astronauts to eat while they are living the high life on the surface
of our nearest planetary neighbour. Six volunteers will spend 120 days on
the lifeless surface of Hawaii, living life as though they were 140 million
miles away from home. These lucky folks will consume only instant foods
and other foods that are prepared from shelf stable ingredients selected from
over 100 options and will then rate them. Here is a link to the crew bios in case you care.

That's
enough. I think that you've got the idea.

Although
most of these expenditures seem rather small when compared to overall annual
projected spending of $3.796 trillion
in fiscal 2012, in these times of extreme debt and a series of four trillion
dollar plus deficits in a row, Washington has to start trimming the fat
somewhere. Unfortunately, those that stand for election time and time
again seem more interested in their increasingly polarized political viewpoints
than they do in changing how Washington "works".

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About Me

I have been an avid follower of the world's political and economic scene since the great gold rush of 1979 - 1980 when it seemed that the world's economic system was on the verge of collapse. I am most concerned about the mounting level of government debt and the lack of political will to solve the problem. Actions need to be taken sooner rather than later when demographic issues will make solutions far more difficult. As a geoscientist, I am also concerned about the world's energy future; as we reach peak cheap oil, we need to find viable long-term solutions to what will ultimately become a supply-demand imbalance.